The poetry you read has been written for you, each of you – black, white, Hispanic, man, woman, gay, straight.

Either you run the day or the day runs you.

What good is it being Marilyn Monroe? Why can’t I just be an ordinary woman?

The sexiest thing that a woman can do, wear, and say all fall under one word to me: subtlety. To be subtle in the things that she does and the things she says and the things she wears – I appreciate the details.

I’m confident in who I am. I’ve come to a place in my life where I’ve accepted things that are me, as opposed to feeling pressure to explain myself to people around me. That’s just the way I’ve always tried to be. It didn’t change when I became a star.

For me, I used to be shy towards journalism because it wasn’t poetry. And then I realized that the events that I covered in essays that became journalism were actually great because they inspired me, and they became my muse.

The human animal cannot be trusted for anything good except en masse. The combined thought and action of the whole people of any race, creed or nationality, will always point in the right direction.

Oh, you weak, beautiful people who give up with such grace. What you need is someone to take hold of you – gently, with love, and hand your life back to you.

We forge the chains we wear in life.

Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.

There are so many men and women who hold no distinctive positions but whose contribution towards the development of society has been enormous.

Poetry and lyrics are very similar. Making words bounce off a page.

Eternal principles that govern happiness apply equally to all.

I believe everyone should have a good death. You know, with your grandchildren around you, a bit of sobbing. Because after all, tears are appropriate on a death bed. And you say goodbye to your loved ones, making certain that one of them has been left behind to look after the shop.

There is something about building up a comradeship – that I still believe is the greatest of all feats – and sharing in the dangers with your company of peers. It’s the intense effort, the giving of everything you’ve got. It’s really a very pleasant sensation.

I think unconscious bias is one of the hardest things to get at.

We had problems like all families but we had a lot of love. I was extremely loved. We always felt we had each other.

I think what’s important is for us to decipher what is honest and what is dishonest and be accepting of those things and not operating from fear.

Africa is a continent in flames. And deep down, if we really accepted that Africans were equal to us, we would all do more to put the fire out. We’re standing around with watering cans, when what we really need is the fire brigade.

Martyrs do not underrate the body, they allow it to be elevated on the cross. In this they are at one with their antagonists.

To terrify children with the image of hell… to consider women an inferior creation. Is that good for the world?

I see the face of a child. He lives in a great city. He is black. Or he is white. He is Mexican, Italian, Polish. None of that matters. What matters, he’s an American child.

I know people said I wasn’t selling out in America, but that was entirely untrue. We sold out all over the world, and every night I looked out into the fans and those front rows that you’re talking about, the tears, the honesty, the inability to not be completely overjoyed because they felt accepted.

What I believe is that marriage is between a man and a woman, but what I also believe is that we have an obligation to make sure that gays and lesbians have the rights of citizenship that afford them visitations to hospitals, that allow them to be, to transfer property between partners, to make certain that they’re not discriminated on the job.

I hope that people around the world will be as inspired as I am to step up and to speak out on behalf of girls around the world who struggle to go to school.

Independence is a heady draught, and if you drink it in your youth, it can have the same effect on the brain as young wine does. It does not matter that its taste is not always appealing. It is addictive and with each drink you want more.

Every age has its own poetry; in every age the circumstances of history choose a nation, a race, a class to take up the torch by creating situations that can be expressed or transcended only through poetry.

I’m tri-racial: African-American, Native American and Euro – that’s the Scotch-Irish part.

Get up, stand up, Stand up for your rights. Get up, stand up, Don’t give up the fight.

We are all different. There is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being, but we share the same human spirit.

Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.

If you’re always under the pressure of real identity, I think that is somewhat of a burden.

Apple has given me a platform to spread music. They’re giving us Latinos a chance to shine.

I can express myself.

I seem to be getting a lot of things pushed my way that are strong women. It’s like people see Hackers and they send me offers to play tough women with guns, the kind who wear no bra and a little tank top. I’d like to play strong women who are also very feminine.

To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.

One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.

The world is before you and you need not take it or leave it as it was when you came in.

I’m not who people expect me to be. I’m not Henry Kissinger.

I’ve been called a moron since I was about four. My father called me a moron. My grandfather said I was a moron. And a lot of times when I’m driving, I hear I’m a moron. I like being a moron.

I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.

Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than to be able to decide.

I feel like everything we do comes down to how it looks. Even no branding is branding. For example, you had no face or image to put to my music at first. That was branding.

The connectivity declaration is about uniting the whole industry – a lot of companies that typically compete very fiercely – to push in a coherent direction.

I wrote some of the worst poetry west from the Mississippi River, but I wrote. And I finally sometimes got it right.

We must conceive of this whole universe as one commonwealth of which both gods and men are members.

As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words.

If you deserve it, go get it.

Once you feel loved by the universe, you’re already accepted, and you’re not really concerned about offending people.

I just want people to be the best thems and live the happiest lives possible.

But at any rate, the point is that God is what nobody admits to being, and everybody really is.

I can’t help the way you was born if you was gay.

I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists.

When you single out any particular group of people for secondary citizenship status, that’s a violation of basic human rights.

Unity can only be manifested by the Binary. Unity itself and the idea of Unity are already two.

Black Power is giving power to people who have not had power to determine their destiny.

Everyone calls me Bruno; they don’t ever call me Peter – that was just my government name.

People look at the same passage, and one person will say this is the best thing he’s ever read, and another person will say it’s absolutely idiotic. I mean, there’s no way to reconcile those two things. You just have to forget the whole business of what people are saying.

My gold, my money couldn’t stop cancer from appearing on my body. If they can’t save me, then I don’t need them.

I love that for Barack, there is no such thing as ‚us‘ and ‚them‘ – he doesn’t care whether you’re a Democrat, a Republican, or none of the above… he knows that we all love our country… and he’s always ready to listen to good ideas… he’s always looking for the very best in everyone he meets.

I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.